News and updates on potential cures for type-1 diabetes, that are in human (or clinical) trials.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Possible Cures for Type-1 in the News (late June)

Low Dose Naltrexone starts a Phase-I Trial

Background
Naltrexone was approved in 1984 for use in treating heroin addiction, but was never widely used, because of strong side effects. The low dosage level is one tenth the dose approved, so it is much lower, and doesn't have these strong side effects. Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) is undergoing several clinical studies aimed at different diseases.

Here is how the researchers describe this trial:

The purpose of this early study is to see if a drug called naltrexone should be studied more in people with Type I diabetes and hypoglycemia unawareness. This study will show whether naltrexone could reduce hypoglycemia unawareness. The study will also show, by using magnetic resonance imaging (also called MRI), whether naltrexone changes the way blood flows in the brain when a person is experiencing hypoglycemia.

Discussion
I'm not sure if I'm going to follow this trial as a potential cure, because it seems to be focused very specifically on "hypoglycemia unawareness", and that is not a cure. On the other hand I mention it here, because I know that some people are very interested in Low Dose Naltrexone, and it is the first time LDN has been tried on type-1 diabetes. Unfortunately, they are going going to be measuring blood flow in the brain, and too-low blood sugar events. Some people think that LDN might result in lower insulin requirements, and producing more natural insulin. However, this trial is unlikely to detect that (unless they test for more things than are mentioned in their clinical trial record).

Artificial Pancreas Photo
Here is a link to a "puff piece" in a Boston newspaper about the "bihormonal" (glucagon and insulin) AP work:
http://www.bu.edu/today/node/11148
The reason I include it is because it starts out with a big photo of a person with this AP. Notice the five different "sets" on the person's abdomen. It's a good reminder of where AP is and is not. How far we have come with an AP, and have far we have yet to go.

These guys are testing a bihormonal (glucagon and insulin) AP device, similar to El-Khatib's group in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. However these guys are using a different computer algorithm to control the hardware. The key achievements include an average BG of 138 and "nighttime hypoglycemia was reduced nearly to zero". Testing was for a 24 hour period. I think that 21 people were involved. (The newspaper article says "21 experiments".)

Stem Cells
I recently came across a group of 8 stem cells experiments (mostly phase-I) which did not require long term immunosupressives. So those could be part of a future cure. For example, if Diamyd, DiaPep, or any of the anti-CD3 treatments currently in phase-III trials pan out in honeymoon diabetics, then these stem cells might extend that cure to people with established type-1 diabetes. I will devote a future posting to these Stem Cells trials. With the 3 stem cell trials that I already knew about, that's 11 total.

Joshua LevyAll the views expressed here are those of Joshua Levy, and nothing here is official JDRF or JDCA news, views, policies or opinions.
Blog: http://cureresearch4type1diabetes.blogspot.com
Web: http://joshualevy.pbworks.com/DiabetesCureReadyForHumanTrials

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This blog discusses cures and preventatives for type-1 diabetes that are either in human trials or just about to start. Treatments for diabetes are not generally discussed here, unless they can turn into a cure or a preventative. My definition of a cure is this:1. Blood sugar control without testing and with doctor's visits 4 times a year, or less. Any cure must result in an average lifespan close to normal.2. Does not require a lifetime of immunsuppressive drugs, so it is not trading one treatment for another. (but a couple of operations, or a short course of drugs is OK)Obviously, this is my personal definition of a cure; yours may differ.Because a cure for type-1 diabetes is likely to involve a combination of several different drugs or treatments, I try to follow research into anything which may be an important part of the cure.

My Non-Conflict of Interest Statement

For the first 10 years of running this blog, I did not work for a company doing medical research. In 2018, I started working for Bigfoot Biomedical, which is developing an "automated insulin dosing/delivery solution" (what many call an Artificial Pancreas).

I blog on research aimed at curing type-1 diabetes, and I view Bigfoot Biomedical's work as treating type-1 diabetes (not a cure at all). Therefore, I don't view this work as conflicting with my blogging. However, if you consider the kind of automated insulin dosing/delivery solution that Bigfoot is developing to be an actual cure for type-1, then this would conflict with my blogging. I think they are quite different.

I don't get paid in any way by any company working on a cure for type-1 diabetes; I never have. And that includes free samples, free travel, or free anything. I do sometimes participate in market research studies or focus groups, and they sometimes pay.

None of the hours that I have put into my blog, or the posts that I make to any web site, has ever been paid for. (Except for some very nice and heart felt thank-you emails, and those are worth more than money.)

My daughter has type-1 diabetes and participates in clinical trials. I sometimes report on trials that she participates in, but I do not reveal her participation because I consider her medical history to be private.

I sometimes "beta test" new software or devices involved in type-1 diabetes. When I'm blogging about something where I have been given special access, I say so.

In the past I have volunteered with JDRF and The NIIB Project. I currently am a fellow with JDCA. The JDRF and NIIB work was completely unpaid. JDCA has given me equipment that I use to help my blogging, and on one occasion paid for specific consulting work.